It's Just One of Thoes Bad Times
by JerseyGirl
Summary: Debt, hunger, and almost out of toothpaste. It seems like nothing's goin' good for Spike and company on the planet Mars, and Ed gave the last of Spike's coffee to a homeless father and son, but they're more to what the eye see. CHAPTER 2 IS UP! Read now!
1. The last of the Coffee beans

Author's note: Hello. Ok I have a couple of things I have to say, it's not long, just a few sentences. This is the first anime fic that I have written and post it on the internet. I did fanfiction before but only in the cartoon section on ff.net. I have a adequate knowledge about Cowboy Bebop but I'm not quite sure if Ed speaks in third person or not. I check most of the CB fics on this site and none seem to have her speaking in third person. However, if her dialogue is wrong, or characters personalities, and the quality of the fic is to you, can you please tell me. 

Disclaimer: I do not own Cowboy Bebop or any of the copyrighted characters…. But I own my original characters so there :p

It's Just One of Those Bad Times

" Jesus Christ." Spike grumbled, " Why is it so damn cold here?"

 Walking slowly down the hallway inside the ship through the cold morning air Spike remind himself that he and the others landed here three days ago on Mars because they were low on supplies, especially food. It was even considered a miracle they made it to Mars on account of the mechanical problems they had with the ship. Despite making it to Mars all on one piece and fixing the needed repairs on the ship all the money that they had burn to flames. Things were getting so bad that it was to the point that they barely have little money to buy toiletries. And business wasn't busy like Spike and the others wanted to be, the majority of the bounties they heard by ear or by television were literally worth pennies. It was almost starting to look just like the stock market; business was down, debt was up, and Spike was tired. 

Despite his slow speed he finally made it towards the refrigerator. He grabbed onto the refrigerator handle and pictured himself opening the door finding the last can of Columbian coffee where he last put it, inside a near bare refrigerator. He opened the fridge felling the cold air through his heather gray T-Shirt and seeing the familiar dim yellow light, he fully opened the door, and he, frowned,

"…What the hell?"

All there was inside the refrigerator was just cold air and light. At the corner of his eye, he saw Faye in her white robe passing by drinking something with steam rising from it from her white mug.

Out of frustration, Spike grabbed the empty coffee can, slammed the door, and walked over to the living room. 

On the couch Faye was sitting with her legs crossed sipping on the hot liquid reading one of the outdated magazines; she must have been very concentrated she didn't notice Spike,

" Faye."

Faye looked up at Spike and asked casually, " What?" 

" I can't believe you drank _all_ of the coffee." 

, " No I didn't." Faye eyes widen with anger when she said that.

" You did," Spike tossed the can on the couch next to Faye and it bounced a little bit.

" Huh?" Faye grabbed the empty coffee can and examined it, she shake it, turned it upside down, she even patted it on the bottom and nothing didn't came out. She looked up at Spike and she must of read his mind.

" I didn't drank it all Spike, it must have been…uhh…a rat's…or something…." Faye said defensively. She pointed at the white mug and smiled innocently, " It's hot chocolate, see."

Spike narrowed his eyes and said, " The evidence is there Faye. Jet doesn't drink it 'cause he thinks it's unhealthy and we banned Ed from drinking it, so the only one who possibly did drank it is—"

" You think I drank all the damn coffee," Faye yelled, " Well I didn't Spike, so ya can play Sherlock somewhere else, alright!"

Jet walked in rubbing his left eye, he looked like he just woke up on the wrong side of the table, " Dammit what's all the yellin' about, ya guys just woke me out of a _good_ dream, we had a good bounty."

Spike folded his arms and rolled his eyes away from Faye, " She drank the last of the coffee."

" No I didn't!" Faye yelled.

" Yeah you did." Spike yelled back.

" No I didn't!"

" Aww both of you shut up!" Jet interrupted, "I'm sorry I asked. I didn't know ya guys would act like two kids bickerin' on a playground in school!" 

Spike look around to see if Ed was going to pop out of nowhere and rhyme something with the word kids, but there wasn't any Ed, or Ein too. Spike scratched his hair still looking around for the two, " Speakin' of kids, did anyone seen or heard from Ed?" Spike asked.

Jet put on his thinking face and his answer was, " Nope, didn't seen Ed this mornin' or Ein too." Faye placed the coffee mug on a small stack of old magazines and stretched her legs onto the coffee table and yawed, " Ed's probably out on a walk with Ein or something or she probably walking with one of her acquaintances she knows on Mars or…" While Faye was listing all the possibilities of Ed and Ein, Spike got a hold of Faye's mug and sniffed it. Faye stopped and looked at Spike sniffing the mug oddly. She snapped, " Spike! That's mine!"

After Spike lightly sniffed the coffee, his face twisted with confusion, " Faye."

Faye tighten her fist and put on her 'tough girl' look, " What!?"

There was a three second pause until Spike said," … This isn't coffee."

Faye and Jet look at Spike with blank eyes. All of a sudden, Faye grabbed her stomach and ran out the living room while holding her mouth, muffling her shouts of pain. Surprised, Jet walked over to Spike and sniffed Faye's coffee mug to figure out what it is.

" If it's not coffee then what the hell is it?" Jet asked.

Spike put on a grin, " It's one hundred percent pure Mars soil."

Jet chuckled and looked at Spike, " I can't believe ya pulled somethin' like this on Faye Spike." Spike nod his head left to right and stared at the 'coffee'.

" I didn't do it." Spike said, " And if Faye got Mars dirt, where's the coffee?"

Ed along with Ein was skipping down an alleyway holding a clear plastic bag of coffee nuts. Ed was smiling widely singing, " We got coffee! We got coffee! " Ein barked and look at Ed. She glanced at Ein and smiled, " Ed hopes that Fay-Fay and the others don't mind the other stuff in the can we put. It taste the same anyway, huh Ein?"

Ein barked as if he can actually answer back.

The two finally reached the end of the alleyway and ended up at the manmade river. Around here fisherman and boaters hang around here, also peddlers, travelers, hippies, and whatever that is to the mundane to the insane you will probably find it at the manmade river. 

Ed tossed the clear plastic bag of beans in front of the floor. Facing the coffee beans was two hooded figures. The left hooded figure was large and bulky and the one next to the hooded figure was small and thin. The large hooded figure grabbed the plastic bag of coffee beans and nodded, " Thank you, Ed."

" You welcome." Ed smilled.

Ein barked.

The small thin hooded figure shook on the large bulky hooded figure's shoulder and asked, " Can we take these cloak's off it's getting hot."

" Ed can you tell us if anybody's around." The large hooded finger asked. Ed looked around and smiled, "Nobody's around to see you."

The two hooded figures uncloaked themselves and threw the brown cloaks in the back of their bright orange homemade tent.

" Once again, thank you Ed." Smiled the large bulky man. 

For an middle-aged man he looked handsome for his age, he has short wavy sunny blond hair, grayish green eye's and color skin just like Ed's. You can tell from his gray cotton shirt that he use to work out when he was younger.

" This is great Dad we get to have something hot when we get to eat." The young boy said joyfully.  

The boy did not share his father's grayish green eyes but instead had a mix of dark blue and gray in his eyes. He did not have his father's sun tanned skin but a fair complexion that can easily have sunburn. And Instead of being big and muscular like his father he was very slim, almost a little too slim, for his age. These two men would have been polar opposites if they didn't share their short blond hair together. 

The boy's eye's brightened when he seen Ein, he waved his hand and the boy shouted happily, " Hey Ein!" Ein barked happily, ran towards him and jumped into his arms. The dog licked on the boy's face constantly and the boy collapsed next to his father. Dad made a hearty laughed and smiled, " Now Ted you have to be clean now, I got a surprise for you and Ed."

Ted, Ed and even Ein look at Dad with glossy eyes and all together, excluding Ein because he a dog, they said, " Really!? What is it?" 

Ed jump for joy and started to make cartwheels singing, " Dad have a present! Dad has a present!" Ted rolled his eyes playfully and smiled, " No Ed, _he _is my father. Didn't you say your father was on Earth somewhere?"

" Yeah," Ed laughed, " But I don't know where he is."

Ted jump back with surprise, " Ed! How can you _not _know where your father is!?"

The girl with the golden orbs thought for a while and answered with a smile, " I forgot where he was."  The blond boy almost fell back from Ed's answer. 

Dad started to reach for his pocket from his raggedy old stonewashed jeans, but suddenly he stopped and grinned, " Now you two, close your eyes."

Ed and Ted closed their eyes both were grinning happily. A few seconds that felt like hours for Ed and Ted went by and Dad finally called out, " Ok now open 'em." Ed was the first to open those golden orbs and she saw a thick wad of— 

" Money! Money! Money!" Ed singed. Ted opened his eyes and gasped at the large sum of money his father suddenly appeared with, " Dad! Where did you get all this dough from?" 

" I kept it just for the occasion." Dad shrugged while smiling, " You and Ed can do anything you want with it."

" Really?!" Ted asked. He never had a present like this in his life, even if it's on his birthday, however, he knew that Dad needed the money more then he did. He folded his arms behind his back and he asked, " I-If you need it Dad I won't use it. You probably need it more then I do." Ed knows that kids her age usually say that to make sure that presents and gifts were actually theirs, but when she looked at Ted's expression on his face, it was genuine. Ed looked at Dad and said, " I won't use too. You probably need it more then me too." 

Dad looked at Ted and Ed and laughed,  " Here." He tossed the money to Ted and the blond haired boy caught it with hesitation. Dad crawled out of the tent and stand up and assured Ted and Ed, " Don't worry guys, I have plenty left. Now you guys better get out of this dump and spend it all before I give it to Ein."

" Ok Dad." Ted said. Ed grabbed onto Ted's wrist and was about to make a mad dash towards the alleyway. Until Dad shouted,

" Hey Ted!"

Ted looked back and asked nicely, " Yes Dad."

You forgot your hat son." Dad tossed Ted's red baseball cap as if it was like a Frisbee and Ted caught it. The fair skinned boy put his cap on and turned it backwards. Some of his hair was popping out of the adjusting part of the hat. 

" Thanks Dad." Ted said. Ed grabbed Ted's hand again and shouted happily, " Ed say's Ted's gonna have fun!" And both kids ran into the alleyway that exit's to the streets of Mars. 

It's been five hours since Faye drank the "coffee". Spike was lying on the couch watching his semi favorite show "Bigshots". A show that had a man with a mexican accent and a busty blond in cowboy gear that told today big bounties. They even noticed the not so good times.

" The times are getting' rough." The mexican man said.

" Uh huh!" The blond agreed, " It seems like there isn't any more big bounties out their, nope." The blond looked at the mexican man and with her sad blue eyes, she wooed, " Where have all the bad guys gone?" And miraculously, at the same time, she wiggled her hips.

" I don't know lil' lady," The mexican man said, " The man took off his hat and placed it on his chest, as if he's feeling the tough times, " But I know our cowboys and cowgirls out there are experiencing worst then us and expecting worst as the days go." The man turn his head to the blond and said dreadfully, " Do you know what this means?"

The girl shook her head side to side like a little child who doesn't know better, " No?"

" They may have to get an _real _job!" The mexican man yelled in fear as the blond girl screamed, once again shaking her hips at the same time.

Spike mumbled a few words like, stupid and you-got-to-be-kidding-me. He shut the TV off and rested his head on the pillow. He mumbled over to Jet who was sitting on the couch across from him, reading an article in a very old magazine about bonsai trees. He looked very interested,

 Spike knew things were getting really bad if Jet was reading about bonsai trees. He knew everything about them from dirt to leaf. " Been here for three damn day and still no good bounties." Spike sighed, " What's the world coming to Jet?"

" Just wait Spike," Jet said reassuringly as he turn the page, "soon were gonna get the jackpot. And then were going to be out of debt." He looked over at Spike and grinned, " We can actually _buy _some toothpaste when the time comes."

Spike laughed quietly, " Yeah right Jet." The fuzzy moss green haired man closed his eyes and started to go to sleep, until his portable cell phone started ringing. Spike searched and researched his pockets until he found the phone and quickly he answered, " Yeah, who is it?"

" Is this the man who call himself Spike?" The woman asked.

" Yeah…" Spike look over at Jet who was signaling him who's on the phone.

" Lady who are you, how'd you get this number and how did you know my name?"

" I can answer all your questions if you come at the Nortormolla building in two hours. If you're a no show then the deal is off and I'll look for business elsewhere…" There was a long pause and she continued, "… oh and please bring in your partners too." And then she hanged up.

Spike was spooked out, he hanged up the cell phone and tossed it to the other side of the couch and stared at it. Jet wanted to know what happened and all the information he could possibly get, " Spike! Who the hell, what the hell, why the hell?!"

" It was a woman," Said spike, " Sounded like she's in politics or some business crap, she's probably around her late thirty's early forties. She told me, you, Faye and Ed to come to the Nortormolla building." 

" The Nortomolla building?" Jet asked, " That's the first office building ever made on Mars."

" This is weird. I don't think we should bring Ed along." Spike said, " It's probably a trick." Faye walked in with her usual clothing and grumbled, " We don't even know where Ed is and I hope Ed stays there too! When I get my hands on that scrawny little-"

" Child abuse Faye." Jet pointed out. 

" I don't call it child abuse, I call it 'child reconstruction'." Faye grinned angrily. Her mood suddenly changed when she asked Spike, " So what's up?"

" Some lady called." Spike said. Faye look like she seen a ghost she asked, " I-Is it the."

" No it's not them," Spike assured her. Faye exhaled and smiled, " Great. So what are we standing here for, let's go."

Alright, that was the end of Chapter 1. So how did you like it? _Originaly_, the title was going to be " Ed & Ted" But then I changed it because it kind of reminds you of  "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" A movie that I like…but…don't really want this story to relate to. And I thought this title was best suited for this story anyway.  I already have Chapter 2 written I just have to edit it. But you guys may have to wait for Chapter three to pop up for awhile. I Don't forget to review! f it sucks, it sucks and if it's good then I'm really surprised J. I was kind of hesitant to post this story because but I have to branch out into new things. And if you're interested in my other writings then feel free to click on my pen name and read some other stuff! Review that too!

Jerseygirl J


	2. A long, long day

It's Just One of Those Bad Times

Chapter 2

Spike, Jet and Faye walked through the tall revolving doors of one of the biggest office building on Mars, The Nortomolla building. The inside perimeter is lined with doors and elevators that reached to the top of the ceiling of business companies that owned office space in the building. Soon as the group set foot inside the mammoth office building they stood their looking like tourist behind the revolving exit doors. The building was full with hustle and bustle of office workers walking on the white marble floors that looks the janitors polished it with wax, probably every night. On the top of the building a huge window showed the endless semi cloudy Mars sky, it was a breathtaking scene the three bounty hunters thought. 

In the middle of the building was a water fountain with extremely chubby little angles pouring water pots, Spike couldn't figure out if it was suppose to be cute or creepy but he knew for a fact it looked tacky. " I bet the water bill is high." Faye awed as she looked at the water fountain. Spike inhaled on his cigarette, " The lady who called must be more than a millionaire to rent office space in this building." Jet tapped Spike on his shoulder and whispered, " Spike, I don't think your suppose to smoke in here." He pointed to the red sign that was posted near the front door entrance. It had a bright red circle and a line inside that covered the middle of a lit cigarette, it read '_No Smoking_'. 

Spike looked at the sign, shrugged his shoulders, and continued smoking. Totally disregarding the sign. "  Hell with that!" He mumbled, " It's not like millions of people are going to die from second hand smoke in a large building like this!" He tucked his hands in his coat pocket and lowered his head. It looked like he wasn't having a fun time. " I'll put it out when someone notice."  Spike said. This was his last cigarette he smoking right now, and he'll be damned if he just threw out a perfectly good cigarette.

A petite, slender woman around Spike and Faye age walked over to the trio. Her dark brown, semi curly hair was in a messy bun with some slightly curled strands loose at the front of the ear. On the front of her eyes were black, round, thin-rimed glasses that was in front of her soft deep brown eyes, " Excuse me sir " The woman asked politely to Spike, "I don't mean to be rude but may I ask what is your name, please?"

" Spike Spegal."

The nervous woman smiled at Spike and immediately lowered her head down looking at the clipboard. She flipped the pages a couple of times until she stopped, " …Umm ... Okay your names are here. I'll escort you guys to my boss." The burnet turned around and started walking, " This place is really big, on my first day I got lost for a half an hour."

The group walked around the office building, which seemed like an eternity, but in actuality they were waking for six minutes. To beat the boredom Jet asked with a friendly tone, " So what's your name?" The girl turned her head and her glasses fell down her nose, she used her index finger to lift it." My name is Eliza—I mean Miss. Silvermill."

" Well you can call me Jet." The large man said. He pointed over to Spike who was slowly sucking on his cigarette, " You know Spike over there and the girl in yellow is Faye."

" Hey." Faye greeted. " Please don't use that Ms. title on me, it make me sound old." She asked. Spike almost had to laugh at that statement. 

Eliza smiled, "Sure thing."

Faye walked over to Eliza and asked slyly, " So why are we here Eliza?" Eliza looked at her clipboard and found the little yellow sticky note. In three second flat she read it and relays the message to the trio, " Umm—my boss, Ms. Dorenson want to see you for an important meeting today."

" For what?" Spike asked.

Eliza shrugged her shoulders, " I don't have a clue." She seemed a little frightened when she said that to the group. She continued, " To tell you the truth, I never know what's happening, I just go find the visitors Miss. Dorenson wants and bring her to wherever she wish to meet them." Spike inhaled the last of his cigarettes and threw it in an ashtray filled with sand and cigarette buds sticking up like cactuses in the desert. He continued walking along with the rest. 

Something felt inside of him that this would be a long, long, day. " How come she just can't do it herself? Spike questioned with a hint of impatience." It's because she's busy to get out her office." Eliza answered in hesitation, worried that the man with odd fuzzy hair was getting irritated at the wrong person. Spike rested his hands in his pocket once again and mumbled loudly, " I think your boss just plain lazy to get off her ass and meet me at my ship." Eliza wanted to burst out laughing of Spike's remark because of the sad reality but she have to keep her composer up, she couldn't do that around these professional businesspeople.

The group finally arrived at a hallway that had elevators wall to wall down the hallway. Eliza pushed one of the elevators that was marked MAIN, she showed a friendly smile, "This is one of the express elevator that goes up to Ms. Dorenson's office and other bosses who work in this building."

" The only one?" Jet asked, " So what happens if the elevator is out of order or something?" The elevator bell made a pleasant ring and the door opened. Everybody walked inside. 

The main elevator was octagon shape and had three big windows that show the view of the city. When everyone entered into the elevator the door automatically closed after a couple of seconds. Eliza then pushed one of the buttons and the elevator started to move upward. 

"Ms. Dorenson has a helicopter port on top of the roof so there's no way she'll be stuck, and they got stairs too just incase of a fire." Eliza stated, " In fact this elevator rarely brakes down like the others inside the building. Except when it happened thirteen years ago I heard, it took the whole night to rescue Ms. Dorenson and some other guy. Nobody really knows what his name is and all the guys who worked that long ago retired or either forgotten about him." 

Spike looked outside the window and look down at the city. The higher the elevator got the smaller the city got. Eliza must have been accustomed to the ride since she wasn't paying any attention at all to the scenery. However, Fay and Jet were looking out of the window. They were accustomed to ride in elevators like this but this elevator had a better view of the city. 

Too bad the city doesn't look this pretty on the ground thought Spike. 

Jet whistled with astonishment, " Too bad Ed couldn't come along, would of like the view." At the corner of Spike's eye, he noticed Eliza next to him looking out the window, but she _wasn't_ looking out the window, her weary eyes showed an troubled mind thinking.

" Eliza?"

Eliza look over to Spike and she snapped out of her thoughts, she noticed how close she was to him and quickly she backed away from him without rising any attention to Jet, Faye, and especially Spike. " Huh? Oh I'm sorry-I-" She made a tight hold of her note board in front of her chest, it was like a security blanket. " What is it?"

Spike wanted to say something but he felt it wasn't the appropriate time to say it. Besides, the question was stupid. " Never mind." He instead said. Faye finally got board of the scenery and turned around looking at Eliza, " So what do you do here?"

" Me- umm- I'm a accountant for Nortomolla." 

Jet turned his head from the window and look at Eliza with interest, " You're an accountant? That's a dying profession."

" Yeah." Eliza said, " Computers are more cost efficient and more reliable then hiring an human accountant, but computers still make mistakes, just not as likely. It's one out of a million it happens. But when that ever does happen I'm around to fix the problem and the accounting computers too. "

" So what floor do you work on?" Spike asked. 

Eliza looked down at the burgundy carpet while making a circle with the tip of her brown shoe, " I work in the sixth floor basement next to the heating system. I was promised a larger office somewhere on the first floor but that was three years ago when I first worked here."

" That sucks." Faye says, " If I were you I would of quit this job three years ago."

" I would too," Eliza sighed, " But if anybody was in my shoe's they wouldn't have a choice."

Finally, the elevator slowly stopped and an electronic bell ranged. Eliza perked up and smiled, " Well, were here everybody follow me." She and the others walked out of the elevator and they were in a nice waiting room filled with comfortable crème colored chairs and one wall that was just a large panel of glass showing nice horizon of the city.

 " I'm going to see if Ms. Dorenson isn't busy to come and see you now." Eliza said, " She always gives somebody an appointment and then she always yells at me about her being busy…and well…you know."  Eliza quickly opened the door and slide inside, " I'll be right back." She closed the door. Faye looked at Spike and singed, " I think you got a secret admire Spike."

" Don't start Faye." Spike grumbled. He plopped down onto one of the chairs and rested for a while, " This better be good, walking all the way over here in the damn heat, I just finished my last cigarette, and worst of all, I'm waiting."

" But isn't it worth it." Faye grinned, " You met the girl of your dreams."

Spike just sat their grumbling unknown words. Something he was doing a lot more lately.

" I think she's a nice girl Faye." Jet said, " What do you thing Spike?" Before Spike could give his answer the door opened and Eliza popped her head out, 

" Ok. She's ready to see you."

Somewhere in the business district in the city of Mars inside a medium size candy and ice cream store people of all ages were sitting inside their tables eating sweets. The door opened and Ed and Ted walked in.  " Ed what you did in the arcade was so amazing!" The blond haired boy exclaimed, " You got a high score in only a half an hour!"

" It was easy." Ed said happily, " Anybody can do it! Even you!"

" I did horrible," Ted said with distraught, " I only made it up to the thousands. I've really never play videogames at home."

" Aren't you homeless?"

" What I met was." Ted thought for a while until he continued, " I've rarely play them at the arcades, even when I'm with my father or not."

Ed stares blankly at Ted, " Oh." After much deliberation the two decided to buy with their money super double fudge Neapolitan ice cream sundaes with nuts, whipped cream, a cherry on top and all the toppings the store had. To put it a simple way their order was considered the works in the ice cream parlor world.  

Ed was gulping it down like she didn't have anything to eat in weeks, making drips of ice cream and chocolate fudge all over the side of the table she was sitting. Wile Ted, however only took two spoonfuls of his and let it rest, letting the Neapolitan ice cream mix inside the tall glass making little multicolored rivers of white, pink, and brown run down the glass. " Are you going to eat your ice cream Ted?" Ed asked while taking another bite. Ted was looking out the store window aimlessly watching the people walk by the shop, " What did you say Ed?" He asked. " Are you going to eat that?" Ed pointed out. 

Ted looked at his sundae and lightly pushed it towards Ed's side of the table," No, I really don't have the appetite for it you can have it. My treat to you." Quickly she snatched her second sundae and started eating his at the same time, " Thanks you! thank you!"

Ted smiled, " No prob Ed just don't gag on the ice cream okay."

 While Ed was eating, something came into mind. She wanted to ask him about it when she gave him the coffee beans this morning but all of that escaped her mind when Ted got all that money. " Where did you come from?" She asked.

Ted glanced at her and smiled, " I'm from here." The blond haired boy automatically started twisting the end of his blue shirt while looking down, he continued, " My Dad and me don't really have a home but when we get enough money were probably going to move to Venus, if were not allergic. But where I really want to move to is Earth."

" Earth!" Ed exclaimed. She made a tooth-to-tooth smile and her golden orbs brighten up. She giggled, "Earth's nice and there's lot of water! Lots of salty water and beaches!"  

Ted eyes widened with joy. He stand out of his seat and shouted with excitement, " Is it true that the beaches are pretty in Earth!" Ed took a big bite of the ice cream, " Ed sees a lot of beaches and they're clear blue. But don't drink too much of the salty water. You'll get sick. And you have to be careful of meteors, but they have forecasters telling you where the meteor is going to hit."

Ted sat down on his seat and he stopped twisting and tugging the end of his shirt looking out of the store window while looking at the people walking by, 

" Ever since I was a little kid, I always wanted to see the ocean. I mean, when I tell some of my family and some of my friends they always tell me, why go to Earth, it's nothing there except broken buildings."

Ed stared at the blond haired boy, it sounded like he was explaining something to someone, but it sounded like he was explaining something to himself. Ed took another bite of the melting ice cream and continued listening to Ted.

" I know they are right, all the buildings are broken and they say the people are crazy—Not that _you _are crazy Ed and your not—" Ted apologized, "But I want to see _real_ water, not the fake stuff that's in the river."

" Mars water isn't really water?" She asked.

" It's not." Ted exclaimed, " Sure that stuff _is_ water but its actually part of the Mars water cycle. A _totally _different water system."

She looked at him and asked, " What's the Mars water cycle?"

" You don't know?!" Ted exclaimed, " If it wasn't for the cycle then we wouldn't be sitting here on Mars. See look"

Ted took a spoon out of Ed's finished sundae and scope a spoon full of melted vanilla ice cream and made a circle out of it,

 " Ok. Lets say the inside of the circle is the city, right." Ed blanked a couple of times and smiled, " Uh huh." 

Ted grabbed the sprinkle shaker and he shook some sprinkles onto the other side of the table. He grabbed some of the multi colored sprinkles and put some on the edge of the model city, " Now these sprinkles represents the mist machines that are on the edge of the city. Now these machines take the frozen water that's inside of Mars and melts it." The boy look at the whip cream that was on top of Ed's other sundae, he wipe some with his finger and made little dots inside the model city. Every time he finishes his sentence Ed always awes. He continued, "Then it heats it up causing it to make mist and then they turn into clouds. Then it rains and then it makes water and when the suns heat the water that is in the rivers and in the lakes in the city it makes clouds and then the cycle repeats itself again."

" Wow, " Ed exclaimed, " That's a lot just to make H2O.

Ted blushed and he scratched his head underneath his red hat, " Aww, it just what my teacher taught me for the Mars Water cycle or 'MWC'. But the regular water cycle or Earth Water Cycle, EWC for short, is easier if you remember it this way: Condensation, Evaporation, Precipitation. You see it rhymes"

Ed paused when she took another scoop from her ice cream and asked, " Went to school?"

" Yeah!" Ted exclaimed, "Everybody go to school, right?"

" Nope. You pay when you're in Junior high."

Ted's eyes widen as if he did something wrong. Immediately he grabbed a napkin and tried to wipe the cream model away, " Umm…well…I just learned it from reading a magazine." The fair skinned boy rolled up the soiled tissue and placed it safely at the corner of the table, he smiled, " Hey Ed are you done because I was wondering if we can go," 

" Why?" Ed asked, " We just got here."

" I know." The blond boy said. He raised out of his seat and continued, " I think Ein want us to untie him from the fire hydrant." Ed reached out her hand to his, Ted look at her golden orbs," Ted." She called out his name.

" Huh?"

Ed gave the boy a friendly smile," Don't hide your brains, there aren't many smart kids and even if there are some smart kids, they usually hide it because they're afraid. I don't really meet any kids like me and since I've found you I want you to be my friend." 

Ted nod his head and smiled, " Thanks Ed. I really appreciate you… being my friend." 

" No prob." Ed grinned, " Hey! Let's go to another arcade! I can teach you how to play better."

Ted nodded his head, " Sure thing."                         

There was wall-to-wall carpeting with a shade of white that look like it was soft to the touch. White leather sofas and comfortable chairs strategically placed in the office to face the mahogany desk that had a tall black leather seat facing the large window looking at the city including the Mars desert.  

" Ms. Dorrenson?" Eliza called out carefully as she quietly walked closer to the desk, " The-"

" What is it now Eliza?" The woman ordered.

Hesitant and somewhat intimidated Eliza said, " Excuse me Miss. Dorrenson but-"

" Look lady what do you want us for?" Spike demanded. Eliza looked at him with shock in her deep brown eyes; she knows how her boss can become really snappy sometimes. " You must be Mr. Spegal." Ms. Dorenson smiled calmly. Eliza sighed with relief She turned her seat around and smiled at Spike and the others, " Sit down gentlemen and lady and I'll get straight to business." Everyone sat down at his or her preferred seat and Eliza was too until Ms. Dorenson said,

" Miss. Silvermill."

Eliza sighed, " Yes Ms. Dorenson?"

" Can you please make yourself useful and go and fetch some refreshments for our guest." Ms. Dorenson ordered, " They must be really parched from the long walk _you_ put them up too." Eliza sighed tiredly, " Yes M'am." And she walked out the room closing the door for Ms. Dorrenson's privacy.

Spike considered Ms. Dorenson to be a fairly attractive woman for her age. She was approximately five foot six inches but since she was wearing high heel shoes that would make her one-inch from off the ground. Her stomach was flat like an ironing board, which shows she works out constantly. She also has a nice fair skin tone. Everything on her body was in place and perfect, her clothing, her hair, her make up, everything.

" I like to thank you three for coming over I'm very much obliged." Ms. Dorenson pointed out eyeing Spike. " I guess you want to know why I called you in my office so I'll get straight to the point as you like. Last year a former partner of mine bust out of jail when the cops were exchanging him to another prison."

" Why haven't they caught him yet if he's an escapee?" Jet asked. 

" Because when he escaped, fifteen other men had their freedom back too so he's considered low priority. You can say he's not the type to go on a killing spree." She answered, " Bedsides, I heard from _other_ sources that he was going to get parole for good behavior or some other nonsense."

" Great that'll make the job more boring." Spike mumbled to himself. Ms. Dorenson continued walking back and forth in front of the glass window waving her hands in the air occasionally, " Now I concluded that he would will just disappear off the face of the universe, you know. I thought he'd go to Jupiter, spend the rest of his life in some floating dump in space or go to Earth, but I concluded wrong. While I was sound asleep in my home he went pass my security system, went pass my security guards, and kidnapped my only son." Ms. Dorenson used her hand to comb her light blond hair back to the other side of her head. She looked down in distressed, " His name is Theodore Dorenson I've haven't seen my poor, innocent son in three weeks."

" Why haven't you called the authorities?" Jet questioned suspiciously, they would of put out a APB all over for the kidnapper and your son."

The brunette looked up at the three and yelled slightly, " Because."

Spike, Jet and Faye stared at Ms. Dorenson who was trying to put her composer back together, " If I bring this out to the public, this will bring bad publicity! Think about it! Why would an escape _convict_ kidnap my _son_? The public and my competitors will start to think and my business will be in the verge of ruin. That's why I ask you people to look for my son so people wont talk and I can get my son back without any paperwork or publicity. Besides I don't even know if I could even call the cops, I don't know what intentions this man has in store for my son."

" Wait a minute," Spike interrupted, " How the hell did you get my phone number?" 

Ms. Dorenson laughed shrilly and smiled at him, " Don't you know what Nortomolla deals with Mr. Spegal? Have you not followed any economic news?! I'm the CEO and owner of the biggest cell phone manufacturing in Venus, Earth, Mars and in a few colonies. And I own the satellites that transfers calls all over the solar system. But to answer your little question I learned a little trick from my former partner to listen in to any conversation I want to hear, which caused his downfall. That's how I came to know you Spike."

Jet's eyes almost budged out of his eyes when he heard Ms. Dorenson said that. 

" Whoa! Hold on a minute!" Jet said slightly tightening his grip on the chairs armrest, " So you can listen in on anybody's conversation without getting caught!? That's invasion of privacy! That's illegal!" Ms. Dorenson smiled mischievously, " I would be sitting in jail now. It's a nifty little trick don't you think? And besides your friend bought that phone, the parts, and the little chip. And he signed right on the dotted line on the contract stating I own the phone, so in legal terms it's my phone. So is it against the law to go and view your own property?" 

Dorenson lean against her desk and started reminiscing about the past, "When I was a younger woman I use to listen in on a lot of conversations. It excited me at first hearing husbands and wives planning meetings with their secret partners, hoodlums planning on stealing a car or starting a gang war, listening to a father from Earth who doesn't have enough money to send his two kids to secondary school…"

 "… Or listening to the many financial problems of life, like _certain_ people who are having trouble paying for certain _medical _bills. " Dorenson glanced over at Faye with her dark grayish blue eyes and grinned. Faye threw back a look witch wasn't happy at all but nervous and uptight. Dorenson grinned.

" But I don't listen in on cell phone calls as much as I use to do. People's lives are beginning to sound pathetic and mundane and I grew tired of it all. But one day as I was just playing around aimlessly with my device I found you and the rest of your partners…."

" I learned a lot about the way you do business based on your cell phone conversations and you get the job done…."

" Alright then," Spike said, " I got all the info I want, now what are we goin' to do to get your kid back?" Spike asked in a semi professional manner.

" I'm glad you're interested, now this is what were going to do." Ms. Dorenson said, " My former partner knows about my little ' _invasion_' in the cell phones so he's not going to dare use a cell phone, so he's going to use public phones."

" You can't intercept public phones because it's the city's property right?" Faye questioned.

" Yes." Ms. Dorrenson said. Knowing my former partner he would probably try to leave Mars in a few days. So I want you to split up and go find my son. Once you find my son it wont be long before he'll come looking for him. So were going to split up. Faye and Jet could go together and Spike you'll just have to go at it alone. I'll be monitoring you from your cell phones from here on out."

Spike sighed. He knew it. It was going to be a long day.

The door opened and the group found Eliza holding a few sodas in her hands. Totally unaware about the meeting that just took place. She slightly grinned and her eyes showed she was nervous, " I—I'm sorry. I didn't know you was still talking with them."

" Silvermill you silly little--." Ms. Dorenson paused so not to try to say the wrong thing in front of her guest. She continued to scorn Eliza, " What in your right mind would possess you to give adults a couple of cans of soda—" She pause for a while in thought and said, " Silvermill are you doing anything this evening?"

" W—why did you ask?"

" Because you're going to help Mr. Spiegel to help find my son." Ms. Dorrenson answered. " You certainly have nothing to do anyway."

By the way Eliza looked her expression on her face made Dorenson's decision a blessing in disguise but a curse. The woman with the glasses stuttered a bit trying to protest Ms. Dorenson's swift decision," B—but I have to—"

" Go and do it Silvermill no question's asked." She smiled in triumph as she pulled out two pieces of paper. " Alright, here's a picture of my son. You don't have to worry though it's fairly recent." 

Spike grabbed the picture from her and glanced over it. He was wearing a school uniform so he assumed it was his school picture. He was skinny, had his mother's skin tone, and had his mother's eyes. He would have looked like his mom if it weren't for the blond hair.

" There, the groups are even." Dorenson said, " Oh yeah I forgot to tell you if you carry out the mission I'll pay you a handsome reward for your services. Now carry one everyone time is of the essence!"

Spike suddenly knew it was going to be a long, long, and possibly longer day then he had expected. But maybe, just maybe, this day may be worth it. 

End of Chapter 2

Author's Note: Hello I'm back! Thanks for reviewing the fic I'm very please how it's turning out. Sorry it took a while to post the second chapter. I was very busy with school stuff and you know I didn't have enough time from working on it. From one of the reviews they noticed my error on Ed's speech; she _does_ speak in third person. But I decided no to use it so I'll be easier to write her dialogue and for some readers to understand. So how did you like it? Did you like the new characters? Don't forget to review and look out for the last chapter of the story chapter 3!

Jerseygirl :)


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